airlock in system

[Ratts]

im having a nightmare lol...

i cant get rid of an airlock in my system..
the heating side is fine and i can get all of the rads working.

the problem is the hot water side of the system, i just cant get rid of an airlock and the pump is struggling and the water takes ages to heat up to lack of flow..

i have flushed the system out and put inhibitor in as well....

when the pump switches off i can hear the system gurgling with air in it...

is there any tricks that can help me out......

 

[cactikid]

bit puzzled as there are 2 systems in one immersion cylinder for hot water,with added electric immersion heater,and coils built in from central heating around inside to heat up when immersion is powered off,if its the rad side must be still air in system,do you have enough water in header tank might also be a bleeder up there to vent air.
Bleeding Central Heating Systems and radiators

 

[Ratts]

i havent got electric immersion heater mate, it heats up only from my gas boiler.

the header tank in the loft is fine and has got plenty of water in it and when i drain some off the system i can hear the water running filling the tank up...

there is an air vent beside the hot water tank which i have vented but i think it might be in the wrong place but i dont really know if it is in the wrong place...

 

[cactikid]

have you tried switching off all rads but one and bleed from that,as other rads are shut off water is forced through that remaining one,do each in turn may get rid of airlock ,when bleeding mine i got no air out but frothy water.

 

[gasman]

Have you bled all the rads starting from the lowest rad in the house and working your way up ? Then bleed the pump by opening the large screw in its center. Lastly bleed the HW cylinder via the air vent next to it.
Fire up the boiler for heating only for a few mins then recheck all the rads and the cylinder bleed vent for air (not the pump). Now switch to hot water mode and feel the flow pipe going into the cylinder this should be the top pipe of the 2 larger pipes that enter the cylinder just below center. If thats getting hot then your good to go if not then rinse and repeat. Can be a pain in the arse shifting airlocks but the pump should force it out eventually.

Edit the flow is the red pipe in the pic

 

[Ratts]

two things i didnt do was to start at the bottom to bleed the rads, and i didnt know about the big screw in the middle of the pump.

the rads are getting hot tho, its the hot water side im having problems with, i dont seem to have a good flow rate as the water takes a long time to heat up and when the system stops i can hear air gurggling.

what im going to do is completly drain the system again and follow what you have suggested gasman.

 

[gasman]

two things i didnt do was to start at the bottom to bleed the rads, and i didnt know about the big screw in the middle of the pump.

the rads are getting hot tho, its the hot water side im having problems with, i dont seem to have a good flow rate as the water takes a long time to heat up and when the system stops i can hear air gurggling.

what im going to do is completly drain the system again and follow what you have suggested gasman.

No need drain down again mt but when you bleed your system go from low to high or the lower rads drag water from the higher ones you have just done causing air to enter the rads youve just bled.

Firstly is the flow pipe to the cylinder getting hot ? If so leave it 5/10 mins then check if the return pipe is getting hot. If not then draw some water off from the vent next to the cylinder draw off a decent amount and check to see if any air is present i use a thick cloth to direct the water and let it drip into a roller tray below also make sure said water is hot. If it all checks out and your problem persists then you more than likely have a faulty port valve. Post back if youve no joy.

The big screw just clears air from the pump, if your rads are heating up then the pump is ok.

 

[Ratts]

No need drain down again mt but when you bleed your system go from low to high or the lower rads drag water from the higher ones you have just done causing air to enter the rads youve just bled.

Firstly is the flow pipe to the cylinder getting hot ? If so leave it 5/10 mins then check if the return pipe is getting hot. If not then draw some water off from the vent next to the cylinder draw off a decent amount and check to see if any air is present i use a thick cloth to direct the water and let it drip into a roller tray below also make sure said water is hot. If it all checks out and your problem persists then you more than likely have a faulty port valve. Post back if youve no joy.

The big screw just clears air from the pump, if your rads are heating up then the pump is ok.

ok mate will give that a go this week sometime......

 

[Messa]

ok mate will give that a go this week sometime......

when you turn the hot on does the actaul flow reduce after a while ?

ie do u only get half a bath and it splutters ?

 

[Ratts]

when you turn the hot on does the actaul flow reduce after a while ?

ie do u only get half a bath and it splutters ?

no mate... i got 2 tanks in the loft, one for the hot water tank its self and the other is a small header tank for the the system its self

 

[ekwat]

My old system used to gurgle with air but after replacing the system with a combi I noticed dry residue on the cylinder. Obviously had a leak which was allowing air into the system. Never dripped water though.

Is your diverter valve working properly? Gurgling can be a sign of cavitation in the pump.

Do the rads heat up when you select to heat water only?

 

[chrispeters]

sound likes the same old ass system we have .
immersion heater in loft and a baxi boiler . we had a similar problem .
we got heating on fine , but no hot water at all , and could hear gurgling in the pipes when i ran the taps .
a mate of mine came and put all the taps on then pulled something out the boiler at the front ( a long brass dildo kind of thing ) just slid out ?
then he turned heat and hot water on till it boiled like feck ( made some horrible noises like it was gonna blow up ) ...problem solved .
He reckons by over boiling it , the gravity(rising heat ) pulled it all thru ?? dunno wot he meant lol but it worked .

 

[sneaker]

When we turn ours on it sound's like there's a car crash going on in the kitchen now and then, but the rads get warm and waters always hot so we live with it.

 

[bigbadblue05]

When we turn ours on it sound's like there's a car crash going on in the kitchen now and then, but the rads get warm and waters always hot so we live with it.

We had a problem when we moved house like that, it turned out that the motorized valve was fitted the wrong way round for years,and the engineer couldn't believe it wasnt noticed by any service engineers, everything still worked but it made a racket every now and then,now its sorted.

 

[stewartthemole]

Had a problem with air in the hot water system a few years back b4 I changed to a combi boiler.
The plumber used a short length hose with 2 tap connectors between the hot and cold taps, turned them both on and the pressure from the mains cold water back flushed the gravity fed hot tap into the header tank taking the air lock with it, worked for me but it will depend on how your system is piped and if there is a tank/ overflow to blow the water in.

As I said it worked for me but I would ask someone who knows better if it will work with your set up

stu